Last Saturday, Bong and I were finally able to watch Mamma Mia on DVD, and what can I say? Either I just love musicales, or the movie is really nice because i loved it. Meryl Streep delivered a really nice performance, and well, I just could relate to the fact that letting go of your dear daughter who is getting married the next day is really very hard. Not that any of my daughters is getting married. One is just a four-month baby and the other, well, an 11-year old pretty young lady, but is still my baby. period.

when Meryll streep a.k.a. Donna started singing “Slipping through my fingers”, i couldn’t stop myself from shedding tears. I even had to hide my eyes from Bong lest he see me crying because of a movie. heehee. But the words really struck me, and the scenes accompanying the song made it even worse. In it, Donna was singing while Sophie her daughter gets ready for the wedding. After showering and while brushing her teeth, Sophie emerges from the bathroom and shows her mom Donna her bruised leg, whereupon donna immediately gathers her and puts something on her daughter’s bruised leg, and then kisses it. aaaawww… that’s just what mothers do to their kids’ bruises.

My friend and officemate Mitch already told me this particular song would really strike me. That was really touching, and I imagined my darling Kara. I told myself it really is very hard to let go. Even when Kara is already an 11-year old young lady who is even so much taller than me, I still think of her as if she were my 2-year old baby who I once brought to my office when we were still in Makati, and who i carried from the office to the bus station. I was instantly reminded of the times when I would just cuddle her on bed and give her millions of kisses and hugs, or the times when I would read her countless fairy tales and other stories, or the times when she would draw stick figures representing me holding her hand with the words I love you mama written beside the images…

For a mom, letting go is the hardest part. And I know, even if Kara gets married, she will still be my baby. I just wish she wouldn’t slip through my fingers yet…

Slipping Through My Fingers

Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that Im losing her forever
And without really entering her world
Im glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see whats in her mind
Each time I think Im close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when shes gone theres that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I cant deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
(slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didnt
And why I just dont know

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see whats in her mind
Each time I think Im close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers…

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile…

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